I'm a talent strategist, practitioner, speaker and author who operates as CEO of TalentCulture Consulting Group. I'm also a social media community catalyst who founded TalentCulture World of Work, as well as #TChat forums on Twitter and BlogTalkRadio. I’m passionate about helping leaders recruit and retain stellar talent. I've partnered with brands like Google, Microsoft, IBM and many growing software, digital technology companies at the intersection of talent management, HR technology and social enterprise. I was named one of the “10 Most Influential People in Community Management Today” by Brandwatch; one of the “Top 25 Trendsetters in HR” by HR Examiner; a “Top 100 Business, Leadership & Tech Twitter Accounts” by Huffington Post; and one of the “Nifty 50 Top Women in Technology on Twitter” by Webbiquity. I can be reached via email at mbiro@talentculture.com, on Twitter at @TalentCulture and @MeghanMBiro, or on LinkedIn.

5 Leadership Toys For The Multigenerational Workplace Sandbox

There are about six generations that live in America today – 3-5 of which are in the workplace, with another set to enter within ten years. You’ve probably heard most about Generations X (30-50 years of age) and Generation Y (Millennials, 11-29), with the occasional reference to Baby Boomers (51-68), the group arguably hit hardest by the recent Great Recession. Please note that these age brackets vary from resource to resource but this gives you the general gist. Thanks to a global economy which stubbornly refuses to improve in any meaningful way for many anxious holders of 401Ks, we’re unlikely to see Baby Boomers retiring at rates previously expected. The short story is this: at least three generations can be found in most workplaces, which not only is a potential source of workplace friction, but also a real puzzle for leaders, HR, brand marketers and talent management pros looking to humanize brands. It’s really not something we can afford to ignore.

This shift in the meaning of brand is seismic, as they say. Where my parents bought a car for the brand’s reputation, and I wouldn’t buy a car for any one reason, my niece might buy a car if its infotainment system is seamlessly synchronized with her Bluetooth and iPhone (or Android). For Millennials, brands must have social capability and social identity, or allow the individual to use the brand’s product in a social context. For Gen X, the brand must be multinational. And for Boomers, well, snob appeal still works – one measure of brand reputation. Note: I’m a Gen-Xer and I sometimes want each of these offerings above so it can be misleading to go on statistics alone. Honestly, I often think stereotyping generations can be very limiting in this way but it’s useful to gain a macro-perspective on just how much the world of work is transforming now.

In workplace brands, as with multigenerational teams, a lot of adaptation and flexibility is called for if success is the goal. As I wrote last week, Brand Humanization is of increasing importance. This holds for workplace brands as a well. If you’re a CEO, HR person or a hiring manager for new and retained talent, you’re probably wondering how to keep the wheels on the bus with three, potentially five, age groups on staff.

Here are five suggestions to keep your workplace and leadership brand aligned with the needs of three or four very different groups of workers:

1) Relevance: For all groups of workers, work must be relevant. This matters for someone who’s 60 as much as it does for a 23-year-old, although the meaning of ‘relevant’ might be different for each. Leaders always need to communicate a task’s relevance. If a task is relevant, it will make the brand relevant too.

2) Accountability: Some people are accountable by nature. They’re performers. Lots of other people have to be made accountable. A lot has been written about the lack of accountability in Millennials, but I think it’s more a question of communications again: leaders must be very clear about what it means to be accountable in the workplace. A 45-year-old may see his or her work as contributing to the bottom line, a 25-year-old may see it as a task and miss the big picture, and a 60-year-old may see a task as a dead end. Leaders have to show everyone why everything they do in the workplace counts and helps build a good brand. Mind, employees have a responsibility to look beyond themselves too, but that’s a topic for another day.

3) Motivation: First cousin of accountability and relevance, motivation can be a mystery for a leader. A conventional boss may see a paycheck as sufficient motivation, while a strategic leader will see motivation as the key to a productive workplace. Taking the time to understand what motivates workers is a huge investment, but it’s absolutely necessary. Unmotivated workers won’t care about the brand, and that’s the first step down the path to brand destruction.

4) Trust: As the work world becomes increasingly driven by social media and social technologies, trust becomes more important. Old-school companies and leaders may think trust is embodied in a paycheck, but it’s not. Trust is earned, like respect. Workers who trust management will also trust the brand.

5) Emotional connection: I’m a big proponent of the workplace value of Emotional Intelligence. The leader with emotional intelligence understands the need for an emotional connection with everyone in the workplace. No, you don’t have to be best friends, but you do have to be sensitive and aware to the emotional tenor of the workplace. Ignore emotional connection and no one will care about your brand, or your workplace.

Can we all just be happy in the multigenerational workplace? Not all the time, certainly, but it will be much more achievable if you’ve taken the time to humanize your brand. Your workforce will be a community, just like in real life, where the players are all at different stages but are working to stay more or less in synch with one another. The alternative? Look around you at the dead or dying brands, the legions of un- or underemployed and the dispossessed.

Attracting and retaining talent takes a lot of work and persistent effort to be better. So please get to it and start thinking about being a human leader.

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This article explains it very well. Of the items Megan listed I believe trust and emotional connection are the keys to achieving the others. People are motivated by different things and when you have an emotional connection withtrust some one you can have that critical conversation, learn about the employee and reward and recognize them in the way that will be appreciated most.

Trust and emotional connection creates deeper workplace trust (AKA happiness) for leaders and their teams. More specifically, as it relates to hiring and retaining employees. Yes, it’s so critical — particularly in these uncertain economic times.

This article explains it very well. Of the items Megan listed I believe trust and emotional connection are the keys to achieving the others. People are motivated by different things and when you have an emotional connection with trust some one you can have that critical conversation, learn about the employee and reward and recognize them in the way that will be appreciated most.

Trust me, a multi-generational workplace is a challenge. As a family operated multi-generational business, surprises are the rule rather than exception. Key players in our business include gen-x, gen-y, boomer and sprinkling of influence from the silent generation for good measure. It sounds like a great salad. And really, if you dedicate time and effort, have patience and know that at heart everyone strives for the good of the company, it is a successful recipe. However, we are constantly learning that values, priorities, perspective and communication can never to be assumed. We must always ask for clarification. I have learned that in digging for details and asking questions, I learn a much deeper truth of message than I could ever understand at first glance. I believe as difficult as it is, it is a recipe for success as we market to, work with, and want to help out clients from all the generations. It helps us to better understand need. Jodi Krohn, CEO, Premier Press, Portland, Oregon

Thanks for stopping by Jodi. I really enjoyed hearing your viewpoints as a manager. This multi-generational workplace story sounds all too familiar to me and it is a weekly challenge many leaders grapple with. I like your creative term “great salad” — Very true — it’s typically more complex than meets the eye when meshing people with different personalities and career dreams together. Please keep me posted.

Meghan I have to agree wholeheartedly with your five toys here – in particular #5 emotional connection. I see a number of company’s I work with globally having fallen often unconsciously down into the alternative with dying brands, underemployed, disengaged and dispassionate workforces. The solution is indeed about reconnecting in a very human manner and teaching the leadership of an organisation be they in positions of power or not. In my article “Great Companies Grow Their Leaders” I touch on how to develop your leaders for this new era you can check it out here http://www.leadingvalue.net/articlespage.htm

Thanks so much Heidi. Appreciate your insightful comments. I will check out your article. The numbers of organizations dealing with out of touch brand promises, leadership is downright staggering. The underemployed workers crisis is alive and well. These are very challenging times for many people. Connecting human brands to corporate, workplace brands is the only solution in this dynamic global social talent race. Leaders that make connection and real engagement a priority will win.

Meghan, I have to concur that these are more than toys; they are essential tools for leaders across all areas of an organization to successfully navigate today’s workplace. Effectively engaging all the players in the sandbox will only lead to greater achievements. The challenge comes in identifying the motivators for each group, or individual, that breaks through the category divides for collaboration and meaningful exchange of ideas and experiences. Thank you for the insights and references.

Megan’s points are well-presented and reflect my perspective. Most leaders, in my experience, fully understand the need for marketing and client retention strategies, yet struggle with investing in employee retention strategies (even for their most valued employees) within a coherent plan even though they are often overwhelmed with staff turnover. Perhaps a follow up article could provide strategy examples in each of the five areas you presented to further help your readers.